London open: Stocks slump as Greece votes 'no', Rolls-Royce sinks after profit warning

UK stocks slumped into the red on Monday morning after the Greek public pushed the country into unchartered territory by voting a resounding ‘no’ to creditors’ bailout proposals.

Some 61.3% of the Greeks voted 'no' against 38.7% who voted ‘yes’.

“Considering that creditors insisted that [the referendum] was about staying in the euro, the outcome significantly increases the probability of a Greek exit, which is now the most likely outcome,” said UniCredit analysts.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.88% at 6,528.13 early on with blue chip Rolls-Royce providing a drag after a profit warning, while mining stocks fell as investors showed an aversion to risk.

However, losses on the wider market were not as bad as feared by some ahead of the opening bell, especially considering the 2% and 3% sell-offs in Japan and Hong Kong overnight, respectively.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “All in all, given the potential ramifications of this ‘no’ vote, the markets dealt fairly well with the news. Of course, they slipped into the red, but given the haemorrhaging that happened when the referendum was announced last week, this morning’s losses are rather tame.”

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Greece would go back to the negotiating table on Monday, claiming: “The mandate you’ve given me does not call for a break with Europe, but rather gives me greater negotiating strength.”

However, despite the ‘no’ vote, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis surprised many with the decision to resign.

Rolls-Royce tumbles, miners weaken

Aerospace manufacturer Rolls-Royce shares dropped 9% after a profit warning, which the company said reflected a deterioration in offshore markets. The company said in a statement it expected full year profit to be between £1.325m-£1.475m, compared to previous guidance of £1.4m-£1.55m.

Mining stocks were out of favour, including Antofagasta, Glencore, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Anglo American.

However, precious metal producer Randgold Resources was bucking the trend as investors sought safe-haven assets like gold. Also helping the stock was an upgrade by Investec from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’.

Financials were mostly lower, including Schroders, HSBC and RBS.

Budget airline EasyJet edged higher after reporting that it carried 6.56m passengers in June of this year, nearly 8% more than in the same month last year. The load factor, which measures how full the plane is, was 92.7%, up just a touch from 92%.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,097.60 -0.54%
FTSE 100 6,528.13 -0.88%
FTSE 250 17,477.78 -0.77%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Mail (RMG) 508.50p +0.69%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,104.00p +0.57%
Fresnillo (FRES) 686.50p +0.51%
Compass Group (CPG) 1,061.00p +0.47%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,279.00p +0.45%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 886.00p +0.40%
SSE (SSE) 1,561.00p +0.19%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,582.00p +0.13%
National Grid (NG.) 828.20p +0.02%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 780.50p -8.87%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,020.00p -2.86%
Schroders (SDR) 3,101.00p -2.30%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 352.00p -2.03%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 671.50p -1.54%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,058.00p -1.49%
Meggitt (MGGT) 457.20p -1.49%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 564.50p -1.47%
Barclays (BARC) 259.10p -1.46%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,037.00p -1.43%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Grainger (GRI) 229.70p +1.91%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 175.00p +1.51%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,201.00p +1.01%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 950.50p +1.01%
Hunting (HTG) 548.50p +0.92%
Laird (LRD) 365.60p +0.80%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 572.00p +0.79%
Evraz (EVR) 116.40p +0.78%
AO World (AO.) 132.80p +0.61%
Aldermore Group (ALD) 317.20p +0.60%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 126.50p -4.09%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 141.30p -3.75%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 1,020.00p -2.67%
Henderson Group (HGG) 253.70p -2.50%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 495.50p -2.46%
Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 506.50p -2.41%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 432.20p -2.39%
Man Group (EMG) 148.70p -2.36%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 183.70p -2.34%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 278.10p -2.28%